


The Coming of Spring

by Sagus



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-04-12 16:28:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4486671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sagus/pseuds/Sagus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Hakurei Maiden passed away in her sleep, after a long and fulfilling life. Her funeral was a surpisingly quiet affair. Wondering why Reimu's so-called friends don't seem to be much bothered by her passing, Marisa wanders Gensokyo, trying to understand. Oneshot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Coming of Spring

“Hakurei Reimu passed away in her sleep last Friday, March 24, at the age of 87, just as the spring of Season 192 began.

The funerary rites were presided by Hakurei Akane, Reimu’s adopted daughter and the current miko of the Hakurei Shrine. A modest crowd of humans gathered at the shrine to pay their respects to the deceased. Yakumo Ran, shikigami of Yakumo Yukari, was the only youkai in the vicinity besides myself; according to her, her presence was necessary in case the cremation of the body caused any disturbances on the barrier. The sullen look on her face seemed to indicate that she knew for sure that nothing would actually happen and that her master had just encumbered her with a bothersome and boring task, though.

Hakurei Reimu was notable for the creation, implementation and enforcement of the Spell Cards rules, allowing humans and youkai to co-exist in a generally peaceful way. Known among youkai for her great power and dedication to her job as a ‘exterminator’, she was well-loved by them as-“

“Yeah, so frickin’ loved that not a single one of ‘em bothered to show up for the funeral” Marisa said to no one in particular, tossing the newspaper she was just reading on top of an incredibly messy table.

The witch stretched in her chair, pushing against its back and nearly making it fall backwards.  With a sigh, she slumped over the open book in front of her.

Her eyes wandered around her house.

Piles and piles of (mostly borrowed) books filled every corner of the room, some so high that they avoided collapse only because of the seven or so different spells Marisa had placed on them. A stockpile of mushrooms sat against her cauldron, which was filled with a half-finished potion she had entirely forgotten about and which was starting to reek. A fair amount of trash littered the ground, accumulated from gods knew how many years; she recalled with a faint smile the numerous times Alice had reprimanded her for her poor hygiene. It was a pity that the puppeteer refused to come around to clean up anymore. She was so good at it that it almost made up for the fact she’d insist on returning half the books Marisa had borrowed from Patchouli.

Her wandering gaze eventually settled on the sole unobstructed window in her house, on the northern side of the room. Noon had just arrived, and a sliver of sunlight had breached the usual impenetrable canopy of the Forest of Magic, reaching just far enough to bathe that spot with warm light.

Marisa paused for a moment, then got up and dragged her chair over there.

She sat on it, making it creak loudly in protest, and stared out of the window at nothing in particular.

She could see a few mushrooms rapidly growing near the border of her property; three tiny fairies played around them, bouncing on the caps. To their right, a two tailed cat slept under the shade of the trees, ears occasionally flickering as it dreamt. Once or twice she saw a large ball of darkness pass by, followed closely by the two ice fairies from the lake.

Marisa let out a sigh.

All in all, it was just another peaceful day in Gensokyo.

Before long, clouds blocked the sun, and the light entering from the window disappeared. With it gone, Marisa noticed that she could see her reflection in the glass.

She still looked exactly the same as she did when she abandoned her humanity, 54 years ago. Perhaps a little bit better, in fact. Long blonde hair, sparkling yellow eyes. Spotless, smooth skin. Perfectly trimmed nails (she still frequently chewed on them, but since they healed very quickly now, it didn’t show).

Completely different from the wrinkled, woody look that Reimu had been sporting for the last few decades.

She recalled Aya’s article on Reimu’s death again.

So simple, detached, short. Barely five paragraphs long. One would think that the death of someone as important as the Hakurei Maiden would be the headline of the week, but apparently it wasn’t as significant as the birth of two new crow tengu hatchlings.

In fact, it was as if no one really _cared_ at all.

Sure, Akane was doing a good job. She had replaced Reimu for the last ten incidents or so, and performed just as great as her mother did; the way she waved around that Yin Yang orb could fool one into thinking she actually did have some Hakurei blood in her, after all.

But that wasn’t the point.

Marisa knew that most humans went to the funeral more out of a sense of obligation than any true affection for the miko; Reimu was never too popular among them, and an important reason for that is how much she seemed to attract youkai.

Which just made it more baffling when none of them showed up to send her off.

Not even that damn kasha appeared, and Marisa was dead sure she’d have had to stop her from stealing Reimu’s corpse.

Staying still was beginning to get on her nerves. Her house felt gloomier than usual, and a nagging feeling of annoyance in the back of her head wouldn’t leave her be.

In one swift motion, Marisa got up from the chair and threaded towards the entrance, kicking a few scattered books out of the way as she walked. A wave of her hand opened the door and summoned her broom, over which she sat on as she made it to the outside.

The clouds still covered the sky, and an uncharacteristically cool wind blew across the forest; the last remnants of the winter that had just passed.

Checking her pockets to ensure that her mini-Hakkero was still there, she adjusted her hat and blasted off to the air, without a clear destination in mind. 

* * *

It didn’t take long before she found herself flying over the Misty Lake, going straight to the Scarlet Devil Mansion. The mist was thinner at noon, and she could see the blue waters bellow. A faint song soon reached her ears; surveying the edges of the lake, she saw that mermaid sitting on a rock near the shore, singing as another figure (“ _probably her werewolf girlfriend_ ”) watched. Marisa gripped her broom a little harder and made it go faster; she wasn’t really in the mood for that kind of thing right now.

Reaching the mansion’s gates, she saw Meiling taking her afternoon nap against the front wall. She briefly considered waking her up with a Non-Directional Laser, but decided against it; she wasn’t much in the mood for a danmaku fight, either.

Flying over the gates, she headed towards the balcony just under the clock tower that led into Remilia’s bedroom. To her surprise, the vampire herself was there, sitting by a fancy white table and drinking tea. Sakuya stood silently behind her, like a shadow.

“Yo, how you doin’? Place for one more?” Marisa said as she swiftly landed in front of them, the winds raised from her descent nearly making the contents on the table fly.

Remilia sighed and made a lazy gesture with her hand. Sakuya bowed slightly, then vanished for a few seconds before reappearing with a chair and an extra tea cup.

“So. Good afternoon, Marisa” Remilia said as the magician sat down. Sakuya was already filling her cup with red tea. “Patchy is in the library, if that’s who you’re looking for.”

“Nah, wasn’t lookin’ for her or anythin’. She’s still botherin’ me about the last stack of books I borrowed, too, so I’d rather avoid her for now, really.”

“I do wish you’d return them, you know. Patchy may make more use of the library than me, but the books there are still _my_ property.”

Marisa gave her a half-smile. “You can have them back when I’m dead.”

“An event that seems to become more unlikely to happen with each passing day, unfortunately.” Remilia said, smirking. “Well, if you’re not here as a rat, to what I owe the questionable pleasure of your company, then?”

“Nothin’, really. I was just flyin’ around and ended up here” Marisa said. She sipped her tea, grimaced, and added five sugar cubes to it. “What’re you doin’ up at this hour, by the way? It’s still noon.”

“I merely wished to see if anything in Gensokyo would change after Reimu’s cremation yesterday” Remilia said, in a bored voice. “It doesn’t really seem like anything will happen, though.”

Something about her tone ticked Marisa off.

“Yeah, that reminds me. Where were you yesterday, while the funeral took place?”

Remilia arched an eyebrow.

“Sleeping. Most of it was during the day, no?”

“Yeah but as we can see, you can wake up just fine if you want.”

The vampire shrugged.

“I didn’t feel like it.”

“…you didn’t feel like it.”

“Nope.”

Marisa drummed her fingers on the table.

“How long did you know Reimu for?”

Remilia scratched her chin with her long red claws.

“Hm… about 71 years? Give it or take?”

“74 years, mistress” Sakuya said.

“Ah yes, that. Thank you, Sakuya.”

Sakuya bowed slightly. Marisa increased the speed of her drumming.

“So, you knew her for all this time. You brought her a bunch of trouble, partied at her house, shared drinks with her” Marisa’s voice slowly increased in volume. “For 74 years. After every incident solved, at every damn cherry blossom viewing, you showed your bat face around, but the frickin’ moment she kicks it, you can’t even be fuckin’ bothered to move your ass to go pay some last respects to her?!” She finished, nearly shouting.

Sakuya’s face hardened and she shot Marisa an icy glare. Remilia just seemed amused.

“So that’s what been clogging your chest? How pitiful! I thought it’d be something more interesting.” She snapped her fingers. Sakuya bowed, gave Marisa one last cutting gaze, then vanished, leaving a six of spades and a six of hearts behind. Both cards fluttered around the air, falling far too slowly towards the ground.

“Excuse me?” Marisa said, slamming her hand on the table.

“Ah, Marisa. What did you expect me to do? Go there, cry a river in front of her casket, declare my undying love for her, lament on how Gensokyo will never be the same?” Remilia chuckled. “Please. She was human. Humans die. It’s to be expected.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Exactly what it sounded like.”

Marisa abruptly got up from her chair, knocking it down.

“So I guess you just liked to play around, pretending to be her friend or some shit? Use us humans to quell your immortal boredom?” she said, slamming a fist on the table and making her cup of tea empty its contents all over the white cloth.

“’Us humans’?” Remilia said, dragging the first word, red eyes glowing with amusement. Marisa felt a small pang in her chest. “Anyway, no, I wasn’t ‘pretending’ to be anything. I enjoyed her presence, and I’d dare say that she enjoyed mine. Sometimes, at least. But now she’s dead, so that’s that.”

“How can you fuckin’-“

“Why should I feel sad,” Remilia said, in a firm voice, “about an event that I knew was coming from the very day I met her?”

Marisa fell silent. She could feel her blood drumming against her ears. She wanted to say something, _anything_ , to wipe that infuriating grin off the vampire’s face.

Just then, Sakuya’s playing cards suddenly landed on the table in front of her.

The six of spades and the six of hearts.

“…Sakuya is human, right?”

“Her powers allow her to age far more slowly and far more gracefully than normal humans, but yes, you know that she is. Why?”

“How will you act when _she_ dies?”

Remilia cocked her head, brow furrowed.

“Why would I act any different?”

For a moment, Marisa thought that the vampire was mocking her. But then, she saw that there was a genuine sparkle of confusion in her eyes.

And with that, just as suddenly as she gained it, Marisa lost all steam.

Wordlessly, she put the chair she had knocked down upright again, and then made a flourish with her hand, cleaning her spilled tea.

“Thanks for the tea. Sorry for the mess.” She said as she sat on her broom. “See ya.”

Remilia waved as Marisa took off, heading to nowhere in particular once more.

* * *

 Marisa flew slowly over the hills of Gensokyo, a cold sensation in her stomach gnawing at her. Talking with Remilia left her feeling more bothered and restless than she’d like to admit; something about the simple, cold acceptance of Reimu’s death by the vampire rubbed her in a really bad way.

A sudden chill in her spine took her out of her trance, giving her a different feeling of unease; more primal and urgent. She looked around her surroundings in search of what had triggered it.

It seemed like while she wasn’t paying attention, she ended up arriving at the Garden of the Sun.

Thought it was still spring, the large sunflowers of the field were already at full bloom, their beautiful yellow shinning even under a cloud-covered sky. They had stayed this way for a few decades now, ever since _that_ youkai decided to take permanent residence here.

It didn’t take long before she found the source of her uneasiness.

All the sunflowers were facing her.

“ _Gods I wish she’d stop making them do this_ ” Marisa thought with a shudder as she slowly descended to the middle of the field.

She dismounted her broom and stood around, chewing on her thumb. The sunflowers were still facing her. The whole place was eerily quiet for a spring afternoon, without even a single fairy in sight playing among the flowers.

After a few minutes, Marisa heard soft footsteps coming from behind her.

When she turned (a bit quicker than she’d like to admit), she saw Yuuka walking in her direction.

The youkai walked in a slow pace, humming to herself. She twirled her open parasol with her right hand, while on her left one she held a single daffodil flower. Though it was already wilted, a few traces of bright yellow still remained in its petals.

Marisa noticed that Yuuka had the usual empty, vaguely threatening smile on her face when she finally got close enough. Normally, it left her with a slight feeling of apprehension, but today it merely made her annoyed.

Before Marisa could say anything, Yuuka approached her and, in one swift motion, placed the daffodil flower on her hair, over her left ear.

Marisa stood there, uncomfortable, as Yuuka inspected her with a hand on her chin. After a few seconds, the youkai delicately took the flower and began placing it in a number of different positions around her head, always pausing afterwards to evaluate her work. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally settled on placing it on Marisa’s small side braid, just above the ribbon that tied it. She weaved its stalk through the knots of her hair, securing it firmly in place.

Seemingly satisfied, Yuuka nodded, then locked her frightening red eyes on Marisa.

“Good afternoon, Marisa. It’s been a while!”

“Hey, Yuuka. Yeah, it has. Since the last Sexagenary cycle, I think.”

“Oh, so it hasn’t been that long, then.”

Marisa gave her a deadpan look. Yuuka just continued to smile.

“…anyway. Did you want to talk to me or somethin’?”

“Not really, no. Why?”

“Your sunflowers were looking at me.”

“Ah, I trained them to keep watch for bad things flying nearby.” Yuuka’s smile grew. “I guess even flowers know that you’re trouble, hm?”

Marisa rolled her eyes.

“Real funny, yeah. Well, if that’s the case and you’re done messin’ with me, I’ll get goin’.” She said, putting her broom in a horizontal position. “Places to go and all.”

“How unusual! By this time, you would normally be demanding tea from me. Or challenging me to a duel.”

“I already had tea. And I’m not in the mood for danmaku right now.”

“Well then, no wonder my sunflowers can’t take their eyes off you. There’s some strong negativity in your chest today.”

Sitting on her broom, Marisa arched an eyebrow and gave Yuuka a confused look.

“What’s the what now?”

“They are very sensitive! They can’t enjoy the sun if there’s such a dark shadow nearby. It distracts them.”

“Well, it’s a wonder they don’t just all wilt and die with you constantly around, then.”

 “Oh, I don’t let them.” Yuuka said, with an unsettling smile. “Don’t change the subject, though. I’m rather curious to know what made the always upbeat and cheerful Marisa this gloomy.”

Marisa sighed, then turned her head towards the sunflower field. The plants were _still_ facing her.

“You know that Reimu’s dead, yeah?”

“Oh my, really? But I saw her flying by just today!”

“That was her daughter, Yuuka.” Marisa said, sighing.

“Ah! Well, it’s not my fault that the Hakurei maidens are all so alike. Reimu is- I mean, was, the mirrored image of her mother, too.” Yuuka shrugged. “Anyway, what about it?”

Marisa’s head snapped back to give Yuuka an angry look.

“What do you mean, ‘what’? My oldest friend just frickin’ died! Shouldn’t I feel down for that, now?”

Yuuka blinked, then cocked her head.

“Well, she was human. Her death was something to be expected, no?”

“Gah, what the hell is wrong with you all?! That damn vampire said the same shit! What does it matter if I knew it’d happen or not?! It’s frickin’ depressing anyway! Even more so ‘cause none of you assholes seem to care!”

Yuuka seemed to have trouble stopping her smile from widening.

“What’re you’re grinning at?!”

“Ah, Marisa.” Yuuka said as she patronizingly patted Marisa’s head. The witch swatted at her hand, annoyed. “Sometimes I forget how amusing you are. It’s cute, really!”

“I swear to the gods, if you keep this shit up-“

“You have been stuck in winter for a long while now, haven’t you? Buried deep in snow and ice, true nature dormant. But it seems that the first winds of spring are finally blowing; I can see a little flower starting to grow.”

With a flourish of her hand, Yuuka made the flower she placed on Marisa’s hair recover its vitality; the wilted daffodil became strong and healthy, as if it had just bloomed for the first time. Its yellow petals glistened even under the faint sunlight, rivalling the surrounding sunflowers in beauty. Its faint perfume filled the air, remaining oddly strong despite the blowing breeze.

“I am sure that it will become a wondrous blossom.”

The youkai smiled, then turned away from Marisa and, without another word, began to walk back towards the path she came from.

“What the fuck?!  Hey! What was that all about?!” Marisa shouted at Yuuka, who just kept walking. “You frickin’ stupid old asshat, what the hell did you mean?!” Yuuka turned around a corner, and disappeared from view.

Marisa kept shouting for a while longer, but no response came.

After tiring herself from fruitlessly cursing at empty space, she left out a frustrated sigh and kicked the ground, taking off to the air.

Giving the field one last look, she noticed that the sunflowers were still watching her.

* * *

Youkai Mountain quickly approached as Marisa steamed over her encounter with Yuuka. Talking with the flower-loving youkai was often an exercise in frustration, what with her love for teasing others, annoyingly vague and cryptic dialogue, and overwhelming aura of terror, but this time it just took the cake. She was itching to go back and burn all of those creepy sunflowers down to a crisp just to wipe that irritating smile off the youkai’s face. It’d be _almost_ worthy taking the shinigami’s boat ride for.

As she crossed into the aerial space of the mountain, she felt the gaze of dozens of white wolf tengu lock on her. She reduced her speed, but kept on flying; her eyes darted around the canopy of trees, watching for any signs of incoming magic.

After a few moments of silence, she felt them lose interest on her.

Shrugging, Marisa sped up again, aiming for the Tengu Village. More specifically, Aya’s house. It wouldn’t take long for her to find it, having been there before; it was a modest building, sitting on the upper branches of one of the very large trees that comprised the crow tengu district.

Flying under and over the numerous rope bridges and balconies that lined the trees canopies, she finally arrived at the journalist’s doorstep.

The place was just as she remembered; a one-store wooden house (that somehow invoked the image of a miniature temple) with no windows and a poorly maintained roof. A small brass plaque was nailed to the door, with the words “Shameimaru Aya – Bunbunmaru Newspaper” engraved on it.

Marisa tried to open the door, but it was locked. With a flourish of her hand, she unlocked it, then kicked it open and let herself in.

The tiny reception area was mostly empty, containing only a short-legged table and four small, red colored cushions. A few framed newspaper clippings decorated the otherwise bare walls. Two doors led deeper into the house; one was closed, the other was partially opened. Light poured in from it, and the sound of a typewriter being quickly pressed echoed like clockwork.

Passing through the doorframe, Marisa saw Aya sitting in front of a simple wooden desk, frantically typing on her machine. Two stacks of paper and one of photographs laid neatly organized to her right. Behind her, numerous drawers and shelves lined the walls and filled most of the room’s space, brimming with old issues of Aya’s journal in varying states of preservation. A small, young-looking crow tengu seemed deeply concentrated in organizing a box of photographs in the far corner of the room.

Marisa stood quietly as she watched Aya work, wondering when the youkai would acknowledge her presence.

After a few minutes of silence, Aya finally spoke up.

“Just a second, I need to wrap this up. Go wait in the living room.” she said, without looking up from her typewriter. “And I really hope you didn’t burst my lock this time. The kappa hate having to come up here to fix it.”

Chuckling, Marisa returned to the previous room and sat on a cushion.

As she waited, she took some time to finally inspect the framed newspaper clippings; her last three visits had been too frantic and hadn’t allowed her any time to read them. There were five in all, with four being written in a language that Marisa couldn’t read (but she knew it to be the old tengu tongue), and one that seemed to be the very first edition of the Bunbunmaru news. The Japanese it was written in was archaic, but from the landscape that illustrated it and a few scattered words, she could tell that it related to Gensokyo’s borders.

“That’s from when the youkai sages first brought up the subject of the Great Barrier. I drew that overview of the land myself; I’m still rather proud of it.”

Marisa looked at Aya, who was standing near the doorframe and staring at the framed newspaper with a nostalgic look on her face.

“Yeesh, you’ve been writing this drivel for over two hundred years? Haven’t you considered changin’ jobs to mix things up a bit?”

Aya laughed.

“Don’t insult my newspaper! And two hundred years is barely a tenth of my life. I’ll be doing this for quite a while before I get tired of it.”

Marisa rolled her eyes as Aya moved in to sit on the cushion opposite to her.

“So, Kirisame. How can I help you?”

“Eh, nothin’ much. It’s just a… social visit.”

Aya raised an eyebrow.

“Is that your new euphemism for ‘borrowing’ the property of others? I doubt I have anything you’d want to steal.”

“First of all, I don’t steal, and second of all, I know, I already looked around the place last time I was here. But that ain’t the reason I’m here, seriously. Just…” Marisa shrugged. “Was flyin’ around, ended up here. You know how it goes.”

The tengu laughed, scratching the tip of her long nose.

They remained in silence for a few moments.

“So… how’re your new nieces doin’?” Marisa asked.

Aya seemed surprised at the question.

“Did you actually read the last edition of my newspaper?”

“Well, yeah. It did land smack in the middle of my table, since you frickin’ missed the door and hit the window. _Again_.”

“Sorry, sorry!” Aya said, laughing. “I was in a hurry and my aim loses precision when I go too fast. But to answer your question, they’re well, yes. Their hatching went fine. My brother already delivered them to their caretaker division. They were very pleased; the last five children were all male. It would be bad to end the century with no females being born.”

“That so, that so…”

“Yep.”

They spent a few seconds in silence again, until Aya spoke up.

“Ah! Talking about the last edition reminded me; _were_ you at Reimu’s funeral? I thought I caught a glimpse of blonde hair but I wasn’t sure. I was in such a hurry that I barely had time to properly scan the crowd.”

Marisa felt a small pang in her stomach.

“Yeah, I was there.”

“Ah, damn. I’ll print an erratum on next week’s edition, then. Was there any other youkai there besides you, me and Ran?”

The coldness in Marisa’s stomach grew a bit.

“There, uh, there was Keine and Kourin, too.”

“Eh, they aren’t full youkai, so it’s not really worth mentioning. Thanks for the heads up.”

“No… no problem.”

Marisa drummed her fingers on the table, wondering if she should bring the subject she actually wanted to discuss up.

“Say…” She began.

“Yes?”

“Wasn’t that article on the funeral kinda… short?”

Aya’s brow furrowed.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, it’s just… uh, well, it’s the death of a Hakurei maiden, no? Like, isn’t that… big news?” “ _Also, wasn’t she your frickin’ friend and shouldn’t you have given her a proper eulogy, you good-for-nothin’ bird brained-“_

“Not really? She died in her sleep, and her daughter was appointed as her successor quite a while ago. If she had been murdered or anything like that I might’ve been able to spin it as something bigger, but as it was it wasn’t front page worthy. “

“And I guess your nieces’ birth was, then.”

“Of course! Tengu rarely lay eggs, you know. There were only seven children born this century; every new one is a big event.”

“… I see.”

Aya cocked her head (“ _why do all frickin’ youkai cock their heads like this it’s so godddam-_ “).

“Are you alright, Marisa? You seem upset.”

“You have three frickin’ guesses as to _why_.”

The tengu furrowed her brow for a moment, but quickly relaxed.

“Hah, I forgot. You weren’t actually born a youkai, right?”

“Eh? The hell that has to do with-“

“And you’re not even past a hundred yet, are you? It is fine. You’ll get used to it.”

“Get used to _what_ -“

Before she could finish her sentence, the small crow tengu that was organizing pictures in Aya’s storage room appeared at the door frame.

“Uh, Miss Shameimaru… I can’t seem to find Season 126's box of photos anywhere…”

Cursing, Aya got up on her feet.

“Sorry Marisa, can we continue later? I really need to have this done by today.” She quickly walked in the direction of the doorframe. “Nice talking to you, you should drop by more often!” Aya momentarily disappeared in the storage room before reappearing to grab the door’s handle. “Remember to read next week’s paper!” And with that, she closed the door.

Marisa blinked, stunned. A wave of heat slowly crept up to her face, and she had to fight the urge to whip out her mini-hakkero and blown up the door, room, house, and shady-ass reporter all in one go with a wave of a Master Spark. As tempting as it was, though, she was still in the middle of the Tengu Village, and beyond the first few blissful seconds of satisfaction, all she would get in return was ten thousand swords piercing her guts.

Contenting herself with simply swiping the framed first edition of the Bunbunmaru newspaper, she opened the front door and flew off again, away from Youkai Mountain.

* * *

Marisa sat still on her broom, far above the clouds. Night was falling; the stars were shining brightly above, and the waning moon showed its mischievous grin as the sun lowered in the horizon. The portal to the Netherworld stood a few dozen meters from where she was, its imposing gates reflecting the fading sunlight and painting them orange. The cold, pure air didn’t bother the magician, and she, for once, welcomed the absolute quiet. She was still restless and angry; perhaps the chilling wind would cool her down.

A soft humming sound followed by a loud yawn shattered the stillness of the sky. Marisa sighed, annoyed.

“Good evening, Marisa.” Yukari said, stretching as she emerged from a purple gap in space.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Well now, that’s just impolite. I thought your parents had raised you better than that.”

“Don’t you fuckin’ start it with me today, old hag.”

“Did I touch a nerve?” Yukari chuckled. “How sensitive. Then again, I guess you’ve been having a bad day, no?”

Marisa looked angrily at the youkai.

“You’ve been watching me, you frickin’ creep?”

“Of course. And everyone else, as well.” Yukari said as she fully pulled herself out of her gap, sitting on it afterwards. “Your zig-zaging through the land stirred the fairies a lot. They’re very sensitive to restless, powerful youkai, you kn-”

“Are you _tryin_ ’ to get under my skin tonight?!” Marisa snapped.

“Oh my, what did I say now?” Yukari said, with an innocent smile on her face.

“I’ve have had it with you all rubbing in my face that I ain’t human today. It was a mistake, it was a goddamn mistake-“

“It doesn’t matter.” Yukari’s smile widened a bit, showing some of her sharp teeth. “Reimu, bless her heart, cracked and wished to spare you all those decades ago, and for once I didn’t object; after all, unlike that little book seller, your services for Gensokyo were always quite valuable. Therefore, I have a responsibility towards you!” Her expression shifted to a mockery of a concerned face. “Really, I’m just looking out for your well-being! You’re very close to truly being one of us now, you know.”

“What? How the hell-“

“Reimu’s death, of course! Or, rather, your reaction to it.”

Marisa was beginning to lose her composure. Her hands balled into fists, and she felt her blood drumming on her ears.

“My reaction? My reaction was to be fuckin’ broken about it! To be frickin’ saddened by losing my goddamn best friend, the only true one I’ve ever had! My reaction has been flying around trying to fuckin’ understand why none of you seem to give a shit about her! And all I fuckin’ got in return was a shitload of nonsense and a _huge_ need to incinerate somethin' so gods help me, Yukari-“

“Marisa.”

“WHAT?!”

“Do you really think that was it?” Yukari said, fixing her eyes on Marisa’s.

“W-what?” Marisa staggered and avoided the youkai’s gaze; it suddenly felt as if thousands of eyes were peering at her. “Of… of course it was! I’m devastated about losing her!”

“Really?”

“What the fuck do you mean, really?! Of cour-“

“Did you actually mourn her?”

“I… what?”

“Mourn her. Did you cry?”

“I-I… t-that is personal, you hag, and e-even if… that d-doesn’t mean…”

“At what time did you leave her funeral?”

“It… I don’t remember, I guess at… at…”

“I remember you once said you were going to spread her ashes near Reimaden, where you two first fought. Did you do that?”

“When would I have had the _time_ -“

“You certainly had a lot of time to pointlessly fly around, today.”

“I was trying to understand why none of you fucks-“

“You seem quite angry, Marisa.”

“Of fuckin’ course I’m angry! I’m downright furious at _you_ bastards that couldn’t even be assed to-“

“Is that really why?”

“Of-of course it-“

“Stop avoiding my gaze.”

Marisa froze. Yukari’s voice was ice. She reluctantly moved her eyes up, locking them on Yukari’s own uncanny set. Night had fully arrived; the weak moonlight and the purple light of the gap over which Yukari sat made her porcelain-white skin look even more unnatural than usual.

“What are you angry at, Marisa?”

“At… at you-“

“No. What are you angry at?”

“I… I _don’t_ -“

“You know, you have always been a shameless liar,” Yukari said, “but I think this is the first time I have seen you lying to yourself.”

Marisa felt sick, anger mixed with fear bubbling in her stomach. She wanted to cave Yukari’s face in; she wanted to shield herself from her; she wanted to blast this infuriating woman from the sky; she wanted to flee from this monster’s stare; she wouldn’t stand for this, she _couldn’t_ stand this, she… she…

“I… I needed to know…”

“Know what?”

“To know why… to know why I didn’t fuckin’ FEEL anything!” Marisa screamed, and it finally dawned on her. “Why I didn’t shed a single fuckin’ tear looking at her in that casket, why I went home and nearly entirely forgot about her being dead because I saw a goddamn BOOK in the ground that picked my interest, why I was more frickin’ angry that that stupid ass tengu broke my goddamn window, that I couldn’t win a fuckin’ verbal match with that ridiculous vampire or that green haired freak, than at the fact that my oldest friend is DEAD! Why even though I’m standing _right in front of it_ I still can’t muster enough frickin’ willpower to visit the Netherworld and , I dunno, ask Yuyuko if she saw her there! I don’t _understand_ …”

“I would think the reason is fairly obvious.”

Marisa shot Yukari a furious look. Before she could say anything, Yukari continued.

“What are we, Marisa?”

The magician stared at Yukari.

"Bad time for a come on, hag.”

The older youkai chuckled, but didn't falter.

“We are youkai.”

“I _know_ that.”

“Do you? Do you _truly_?”

“Yes!”

“Then tell me what that means.”

Confused and annoyed, Marisa scratched her head.

“Uh… it means we’re not human? That we’re not physical, that we are ‘spiritual beings’. We don’t age, we practically don’t eat. We are sustained by… by…”

Understanding slowly crept up Marisa’s face. Yukari smile widened.

“Yes. We are sustained by fear. _Their_ fear.”

Dozens of gaps opened around the two of them. Each showed a dazzling phantasmagoria of violence; youkai preying on humans, kidnapping children, drowning fisherman, gouging the eyes of monks, mauling priests, possessing worshippers, starving travelers, burning houses, razing villages-

“We are humanity’s greatest enemies. We are their nightmares made flesh, the spawn of the hushed whispers that they share in the dark of the night, the fleeting shadows lurking just beyond the light of their campfires.”

Marisa felt her body grow numb. The sounds of hundreds of humans screaming in agony, crying in fear, praying in desperation pounded at her ears. She could almost smell the metallic scent of their spilled blood.

“Like a rat and a satiated snake trapped in the same cage, we youkai can live together with humans in relative, tense peace for a fair amount of time. Perhaps, after a while, we can even grow to enjoy their presence for something more than the sustenance they bring us. But in the end… well, a fox doesn’t cry when she sees a rabbit die, either by her hand or otherwise. It wouldn’t make much sense, would it? It is not in her nature to mourn _prey_.”

Yukari slowly approached Marisa, and gently grabbed her chin with her left hand. Her touch was ice cold, but for some reason it didn’t bother the magician. Her anger had completely vanished.

“This numb indifference when you see them die. The inherent knowledge on how they don’t matter, on how weak they are, on how _frail_ they are… on how your _whole existence_ is defined by how you torment them…” Yukari’s smile widened just a bit, just enough past the point where a human face should be able to. “ _This_ is what it truly means to be a youkai. _This_ is what it means to abandon your humanity. _This_ is the price you pay for _becoming_  what you should have _feared_.” Yukari brought her face extremely close to Marisa, and lowered her voice down to a whisper. “You are one of _us_ now, Marisa… and it is high time you understood that.”

She released Marisa’s chin and slowly floated away from her, closing the many gaps that she had opened around them. Her usually violet eyes were golden now, shining with something that Marisa couldn’t identify.

The silence that fell felt unnatural after the cacophony of violence that had filled the air just a few moments ago.

Something stirred inside the magician.

After a few moments, Marisa grinned.

“Speakin’ from experience?”

Yukari laughed. It was a joyous, cheerful, thoroughly unsettling sound that normally would have made Marisa shudder in discomfort, but to which she felt completely indifferent now.

With mirth in her eyes and one last look at Marisa, Yukari fell over backwards, vanishing inside her gap. The rift in space quickly closed, and the echo of Yukari’s laughter slowly faded away, leaving Marisa alone in the night sky once more.

With one last look at the gates of the Netherworld, Marisa pushed her broom down, heading back to the Forest of Magic.

* * *

Marisa’s house was pitch black when she opened the door, but that hadn’t been a problem for over five decades now. She left her broom on the wall near the entrance, balancing it carefully. Once inside, she hung the framed newspaper she borrowed from Aya on the wall next to one of her bookshelves, making sure it stood crooked just right.

Kicking a few books out of the way, she walked over to the solitary window in the northern side of her house. She looked at the old chair that she had left there in the morning, and decided to sit for a bit. The chair creaked loudly in protest.

Marisa stared out of the window at nothing in particular.

She could see a few really large mushrooms near the border of her property; three tiny fairies slept quietly on the caps, their wings shinning with gathering dew. To their right, a two tailed cat played with a rat skull, pouncing and gnawing at it. Once or twice she saw a large ball of darkness pass by, followed closely by the firefly youkai and that night sparrow from the village’s path.

Marisa let out a sigh.

All in all, it had been just another peaceful day in Gensokyo.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everyone. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.
> 
> Regarding this fic, I always see stories about characters dying and everyone, including the creatures that supposedly EAT humans for sustenance, crying their eyes out. While I do greatly enjoy such stories, I wanted to try doing something a little different and explore a bit on how creatures that literally live to terrorize humans would perceive their deaths. I ain't no great writer, but I hope that I managed to do an interesting job, at least.
> 
> Again, thanks for reading, I greatly appreciate it!


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